Man, 25, charged with helping Daniel Khalife after Wandsworth prison escape

Imran Chowdhury allegedly assisted Daniel Khalife after he escaped from HMP Wandsworth

A man has been charged over his alleged role in helping former soldier Daniel Khalife after he escaped from prison.

Imran Chowdhury, 25, is accused of assisting Khalife, who escaped from HMP Wandsworth in September 2023 by tying himself to the underside of a food delivery truck while he was awaiting trial.

Chowdhury, from Chingford in north-east London, was arrested in January 2024 and charged in December with one count of assisting an escaped prisoner.

Daniel Khalife after his arrest on a canal towpath in west London (PA Media)

He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

No further action was taken against a 25-year-old woman arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender in February.

Khalife, who triggered a nationwide manhunt following his escape from prison, admitted escaping at a court in November last year.

The 23-year-old was eventually captured by the River Thames in west London on 9 September 2023.

Khalife was found guilty of spying for Iran but was cleared of carrying out a bomb hoax at his army barracks. He is currently awaiting sentence.

Prosecutors told the ex-soldier’s trial he had played “a cynical game”, claiming he wanted a career as a double agent to help the British intelligence services when in fact he had gathered “a very large body of restricted and classified material”.

Police described him as the “ultimate Walter Mitty character that was having a significant impact on the real world”.